


The Right Time

by PocketWhirlwind



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Nightmares, No Spoilers, Not Beta Read, alcohol mention, also posted on my tumblr, barely edited, best bros, but not descriptive nightmares, headcanons, i wrote this as fast as i could, it's a bro thing, late night (not) conversations, mentions of Ienzo but no relationship associated with anyone, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 14:11:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18701203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PocketWhirlwind/pseuds/PocketWhirlwind
Summary: There's a right time for everything. And talking about your feelings and nightmares isn't best in the dead of night. Especially when neither one of you wants to talk.Post KH3. No spoilers.I just wanted to post something on 5/3 so here it is.





	The Right Time

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as fast as I could to get it out for 5/3 because these are best bros and they needed more time together. I'm pretty sure it's Post-KH3 but no spoilers are here. No beta reader, barely any edits, I'm sorry if nothing flows well. 
> 
> But thanks for reading!

Sweat soaked through his shirt as he shot his eyes open. His vision focused up at the white ceiling and he took stock of where he was. His own room. Alone. It was the middle of the night. The sheets mostly tossed off his bed, only a corner was caught on his foot keeping it from touching the floor. 

His breath ragged and shallow, he needed to calm down. Not daring to close his eyes again just yet, Aeleus focused on filling and emptying his lungs. Soon he was fine. He could feel the panic subside and his usual calm return.

Another nightmare. Another way that he had failed Ienzo. Another version of his death that he fabricated from his own imagination. Ienzo refused to talk to him about what happened after he had fallen at Castle Oblivion and Aeleus had seen the scars. He could only make assumptions and guesses. Unfortunately, his own imagination was probably far from the truth. Or worse.

He needed to clear his mind. Find something that would distract him from these dark thoughts and guilt. 

So much guilt.

Socked feet traveled the halls, the goliath allowing his body to take him wherever it felt necessary that wasn’t outside or Ienzo’s room. And certainly not the labs. 

A soft light in the kitchen made his head turn. Who else would be up this late? Quiet footsteps brought him to the threshold and he looked inside. The only light came from the bulb above the stove. A kettle sat on a glowing orange coil where presumably water slowly heated. Dilan watched the kettle silently and seemingly frozen in front of the stove. 

Aeleus’ approach seemed to bring the other man out of whatever plagued his mind because he turned. For a second, Aeleus thought he registered something attuned to hope in those eyes. Or was it fear? 

They stared at each other, neither moving or making a sound as they took in the sight of the other. Aeleus with his shirt still soaked with sweat. Dilan with his dreads loose and twisted among themselves. Neither of them wanted to go back to sleep.

The silent understanding between the two of them was acknowledged with slight nods from one another and a small smile from Aeleus. Dilan turned and pulled out a second mug from the cupboard. Before the kettle could make a sound, the lancer swept it off of the burner and pour the steaming liquid into the teapot that waited beside the mugs. As he set it down on a cold coil, Aeleus took the small bottle of honey out of the pantry and a heat mat from out of the drawer.

Without a word, Dilan set down both mugs on the small table in the corner of the room. They waited for the leaves to seep, the light floral scent starting to fill the space between them. Aeleus took this time to look at Dilan as the other man stared at a spot on the floor. Besides his messy dreads, his sideburns were growing out from their usual groomed design. The light casted dark shadows under his eyes that were unfocused. Aeleus knew better than to ask. He wouldn’t want to talk about the demons in his own head any sooner than the Lancer would answer his own questions. 

Tea was poured and the two let them sit to cool. Aeleus taking his time to stir in some honey.

In the silence of the kitchen, Aeleus let his own thoughts wander back to the last few hours. Restless sleep wasn’t knew to him, the guard had his own ways of getting sleep where needed. But this time it felt different. The reasoning behind it all was Ienzo. Be it from over a decade ago or what had been a few months ago. It was nearly impossible to tell how much time had actually passed from when Lexaeus had been slain and when Aeleus had woken up. Either way, he knew he had failed in his duties.

Surely this thought also haunted his friend’s thoughts.

Neither of the large men spoke, they sipped their teas quietly. The tension in the room came from their own thoughts. The creeping of their own respective minds that clawed its way out and choked them. Aeleus closed his eyes at the thought of Ienzo having the life drained out of him. He couldn't imagine the feeling. His defeat by Riku's Keyblade was swift and merciful. Even as they clashed, Lexaeus had learned to respect the child for his will power. With his final blow, Riku proved his strength. Lexaeus had faded with bubbling emotions of regret and admiration. 

Regret from knowing he had failed Zexion on his mission. 

And now here he was with even more. 

Hearts were a pain.

A deep sigh from Dilan attracted Aeleus' gaze. The lancer had sat back in the chair and his eyes closed. Aeleus could only nod and finished his mug. Several tea leaves sat at the bottom of it. The light far too dim to see them and he didn't have the eye of Ansem to read them himself. Vaguely he wondered if there was any truth to reading ones fortune in leaves. 

Deciding against thinking of it more, Aeleus refilled his cup. The motion drawing Dilan’s attention his way. A glance up at his friend’s tired face had him refilling the other mug. He set the nearly empty pot down and nodded back at Dilan. A small smile pulled its way onto Dilan’s lips as he took the cup. Small but grateful. A comfort in knowing that the other remembered how to smile.

Aeleus smirked at his own joke as he brought his cup back to his mouth and inhaled the scent of the tea. He had barely tasted it before, his dark thoughts clouding his mind. But now he took his time to actually enjoy the taste of it. A branch of camomile along with the honey was sweet on his tongue. Dilan had made it with the hopes of an easier sleep in mind. Surely he would if he didn’t drink the bitter drink straight like that.

His thoughts must have been sensed because the man in question set his mug down and gave Aeleus a hard stare. It was a look that said “if you don’t like it, next time you make it.” Aeleus could only shrug and kept drinking his own. 

The tension in the room broke with that. The two exchanged easy smiles at one another. 

+++

The next time they had met beyond midnight, Aeleus was the one already in the kitchen. Kettle on the stove and loose leaves in the pot. The screams of innocents from the lab still fading in the back of his mind. So many lives taken. Had they really been that blind? 

He sensed his company as he was putting the tea leaves away and immediately pulled out another mug. Dilan’s presence in the room was like a shaken can of carbonated drink and wondering when to open it. Aeleus knew better than to ask questions. So he set the mugs down on the table where Dilan seated himself and waited for the water to boil. 

In the soft light of the kitchen, Dilan’s slumped form casted a large shadow on the wall. His massive form hunched and heaving, he must have just woken up. A hand pressed against his forehead as if to shove something back and away, his other fist squeezing his knee to keep him stable. Questions could always wait. The main question the burned in Aeleus’ mind was why to the kitchen of all places? 

Perhaps next time he would ask. 

+++

He didn’t.

The next time they found each other, Dilan was already halfway through a third bottle of alcohol and a fourth waiting next to his hand.

Aeleus had to blink the sleep from his eyes before he realized that it was Dilan that he was looking at and not beaten and bruised Xaldin. No blood or broken limbs or shattered weapons. They were safe again. This wasn’t back in the World That Never Was. This was Radiant Garden. They were humans once more.

The distant gaze in Dilan’s eyes said it all. Guilt. 

Humans with emotions and Hearts and consequences for their actions. What they had been a part of was the reason this world and all the other worlds are what they are now. They had been the ones to bring the Darkness into this realm and let it run rampant. It was their experiments and blind curiosity that made this happen. 

And now that they could feel guilt and sadness once more, it was hitting them ten-fold. 

Aeleus pushed aside his own thoughts and memories of harsh training sessions, lessons to be taught, and rushes of artificial- were they?- waves of anger to tend to his friend. Aeleus approached on quiet footsteps and slowly moved the full bottle away from Dilan’s reach. 

Reddened eyes glanced up at him, a flash of anger, before he looked away again. Almost ashamed of being caught in this state. The sound of the bottle opening under Aeleus’ palm snapped his gaze up agan. 

The goliath of a man sat down opposite to his friend. Bottle angled towards Dilan’s with a tired look on his face. Dilan sat up, dreadlocks falling over his shoulders as he straightened. Their glass bottles clinking together with tired smiles on their face as they took a respectable sip together. 

Aeleus let the liquid burn down his throat and made a face as he pulled the bottle away. He pulled it away to look at the label of it only to hear a small snort from across the table. 

They were going to be okay.

+++

A cloud of dust erupted from the stack of books as Aeleus set another stack on top of it. He coughed to clear his throat while waving to clear the air. Cleaning wasn’t exactly his favorite past time, but it was something to keep his mind busy at least.

After last night’s late drink, Aeleus had made sure Dilan made it back to his room alright before returning to his own. Sleep had come swiftly and without dreams. Or rather he didn’t remember them when he opened his eyes. Aeleus knew there had been a dream once he closed his eyes, he felt the same unrest when he opened his eyes again. Only this time, worry accompanied him.

Before he could even continue his thought, Dilan stepped in the doorway. His large form filling the space and yet he appeared so small. Something weighed down on him.

Aeleus waited patiently for the lancer to make the first move, any indication for what he wanted to do. For the first time in a long, long time, Aeleus found it impossible to know what was going through Dilan’s mind.

At long last, Dilan took a breath, sharp and quick as if he hesitated he would change his mind, “Can we talk?”


End file.
